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Author Topic: Soil amendments  (Read 3245 times)

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Offline Last Tradhican

Re: Soil amendments
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2022, 12:11:11 PM »
Quote from: Mark 79 on March 26, 2022, 08:20:16 PM
The supply chain attack is making some products scarce.

Can anyone recommend reasonable sources for 40-60 lb bags of:

Peruvian bat guano?
AZOMITE?
fish bone meal (doesn't carry the prion disease risk of mammalian bone meals)?
other soil amendments?

Also I was sad to discover that my favorite source for species roses (not hybrid tea roses) is no longer shipping bare root roses.
Unless you are already a self-subsisting farmer, it is too late to grow your food. In Venezuela they have real food shortages, but all it means is they have to stand in line to get what they need or pay more money. In the USA, it is never going to be as bad as Venezuela or South America or Africa and they have lived with it for like ever.

All one needs is 1 month supply of freeze-dried meals which will only be used like maybe once a week when the lines do not get you what you need. That solves the problem. Farming will not solve the immediate problem, nor even the long term, unless one is already a farmer feeding himself already.
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Offline Mark 79

  • Supporter
Re: Soil amendments
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2022, 12:23:31 PM »
It happens that we enjoy heirloom melons, winter squash, and few particular varieties of tomatoes and peppers that are not available unless we grow them. Last year's hospitalization and learning to walk and use my hands again killed that.

Do we have your permission to resume our lives as best we can?
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Offline Miser Peccator

Re: Soil amendments
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2022, 03:49:42 PM »
When I had a garden I preferred the raised bed method as well.

However, there are some videos that show using cardboard, which is readily available from the shipping boxes used today, is very effective for amending soil.  The best part is the worms love cardboard and will congregate and amend your soil for you!
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Offline Mark 79

  • Supporter
Re: Soil amendments
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2022, 04:41:00 PM »
Our state Agricultural Extension actually recommends planting in sunken depressions rather than mounds or raised beds. Between the heat and dry desert winds, water requirements increase at least 70%.

In view of last year's festivities, the increased water needs for raised beds are a trade-off I'll have to take.

I have shied away from using newspaper and cardboard mulch because the bacterial activity necessary to break it down steals nitrogen, already in short supply in our "soil."
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Offline Cera

Re: Soil amendments
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2022, 07:57:20 PM »
Mark, you mention your local topsoil is rather calcium deficient. We have only a small garden, but save all our eggshells and run them through the blender. They don't go in the compost, but straight to our tomatoes.

Also coffee grounds are free at most restaurants and are loaded with nitrogen.
https://www.trees.com/gardening-and-landscaping/coffee-grounds-for-gardening
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